Running against U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Republican newspaper publisher Diane Gooch kicked off her campaign tonight at the Molly Pitcher Inn in Bed Bank in front of a crowd of 200 people. 

"I am not for government healthcare," Gooch told PolitickerNJ.com in a telephone interview. "I'm not for more spending. I'm worried about taxes."

Gooch said she doesn't believe in government creating jobs. She wants tax cuts as a jobs stimulus.

She says does not favor reviving the so-called millionaire's tax, a debate now electrifying Trenton in the new era of Gov. Chris Christie.

"No new taxes," said Gooch.

A John McCain supporter in the 2008 presidential election, the GOP challenger said President Barack Obama is flailing early in part because he espouses a dysfunctional political philosophy.

"Where do I start?" she said when asked where she believes the president went astray. "Not experienced enough for the job. Too much of a socialist."  

A 15-year Rumson resident who grew up in Long Island, Gooch chafed at the billionaire brand the Monmouth County Democratic Party attempted to sink her with on day one in a press release statement from spokesman Michael Mangan.

MOUNT LAUREL - Branding U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) a career politician, retired Eagles football star Jun Runyan launched his campaign for Congress in the 3rd District tonight in his hometown by positioning himself as the embodiment of midwestern values and as an outsider to the political system. 

"How are qualified politicians running this country now?" he asked the crowd here in the ballroom of the Westin. "Whoever said you need to be a lifetime politician to be a congressman? I'm qualified because I care."

Moments earlier, double doors opened.

The massive Runyan walked into the crowd with his wife and three children, gripped the hand of state Sen. Phil Haines (R-Mount Holly) and climbed onto the makeshift stage to joyous applause.

A 36-year old working values product of factory town Flint, Michigan, Runyan said government is the problem. Too big. Too many taxes.

Adler? 

"He spent 16 years in Trenton, and implemented the disastrous agendas of McGreevey and Corzine," Runyan said to huge applause, echoing a double reference to two troubled Democratic governors prized last year by an ultimately victorious Christie over the latter.

To Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, Princeton venture capitalist Scott Sipprelle is a "Wall Street insider," a tag line Sipprelle meets with a ready brand for Halfacre: "politically connected lawyer."

In this intensifying 12th Congressional District GOP primary contrest, Sipprelle went on the offensive today with a "Halfacre spreads half truths" piece throwing into question a foundational piece of Halfacre's candidacy: his word - while Halfacre upped the decibel level on Sipprelle's drumbeat of Democratic Party donations. 

“Late last week, Mr. Halfacre lied about my 20-year association with the Republican Party and then refused to apologize or even acknowledge his deceit,” said Sipprelle.  “Enough is enough. The voters understand that a politician who will deceive in order to get elected, will certainly deceive once he is elected.  After months of turning the other cheek, it is time to expose what Mr. Halfacre represents – the status quo career politician who is part of the problem in New Jersey and who is incapable of solving the problems in Washington, DC.”  

Not content to jab, Sipprelle went on a Chris Russell campaign crunch-time jag, objecting to Halfacre's self-characterization as a tax cutter by noting his vote to increase property taxes on the Fair Haven school board, denouncing Halfacre for collecting over $100,000 in taxpayer money from seven part-time public jobs and using those part-time gigs to qualify for a taxpayer-funded state pension.   

A lot of the hardest knocks Jon Runyan took in professional football he didn't see coming, and in that regard, he says the sport is not dissimilar from politics - where an email or phone call blast can drop out of nowhere and potentially cause a painful, earth-bound detour. 

"You don't know what's coming in football, and you can get blindsided," said the Republican, who launches his Congressional campaign tomorrow evening in Mount Laurel in hopes of securing Republican Party backing to run against U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill).

"In my last game against the Jets, I got knocked off my feet - there's a lot of carry over. It's a negative enviornment, you're criticized for what you've done wrong, not what you've done right. You have to pick yourself up and believe in what you're doing."

Runyan said he feels no specific conviction about pursuing a seat in a deliberative body rather than an executive position. 

"It was the opportunity that presented itself," he said. "It was available. At any level, who you are and how you apply your beliefs to it is what matters. It was presented to me, and I didn't like the direction of the country. What better position to really change the direction of where we're going?"

Newspaper publisher Diane Gooch on Thursday will formally kick off her campaign for Congress in the 6th Congressional District. 

Gooch, a Republican, is the frontrunner to obtain her party's backing to run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).

Gooch plans to launch at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank.

TRENTON - State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown) today endorsed millionaire newspaper publisher Diane Gooch for Congress in the 6th District.

"She's a tough, feisty, attractive candidate with real common sense that reflects the views of her district and the country," Kyrillos told PolitickerNJ.com. "She's willing to step up and get in the arena, which is what you have to do if you want to serve."

Gooch is vying with Highlands Mayor Anna Little for the backing of the Republican Party to oppose U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).

NEWARK - If U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) ends up squaring off against millionaire newspaper publisher Diane Gooch, the frontrunner for GOP organizational backing, healthcare will be the dividing line isssue, according to both of them.

When PolitickerNJ.com asked Pallone last night at a Newark Club fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) what's the most compelling reason voters will have to vote for him over Gooch, the veteran congressman and prime sponsor of healthcare reform said, "I believe healthcare reform is the most compelling argument.

"I believe it's critical for my constituents," he said.

President Barack Obama's first healthcare reform effort stalled earlier this year, but Pallone said he is confident of a good compromise sometime in the next couple of weeks.

It won't formally contain the public option, but Pallone said the reform will have a health exchange component that increases competition and will create better, more affordable health insurance, he said.

NEWARK - In what is generally regarded to be the frontline of poltiics this year, Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney wants to withstand a challenge by County Clerk Kathleen Donovan and retain Democratic Party control of the big northern county.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair-Lawn) acknowledges it will be a hard contest, but says he's convinced long fractured Democrats in Bergen will unify behind McNerney.

"He's done an excellent job for the people of Bergen County," Rothman told PolitickerNJ.com. ""He's helped to keep the tax rate stable and improved county parks and services. We have the best bond rating of any county in the state in Bergen.

"I don't know of any Democratic leader or member of the party rank and file who's not 100% behind Dennic McNerney," the congressman added. "Regardless of their feelings on other subjects, we are committed to giving the people of Bergen County four more years of service at county executive."

While not disputing the Sipprelle Team's point that their candidate registered over two decades ago as a Republican, Team Halfacre this evening re-asserted their argument that venture capitalist Scott Sipprelle of Princeton doesn't have rock solid Republican credentials.  

And they refused to apologize.  

“I’d like to thank Chris Russell for confirming what our campaign has been saying all along: that sometimes Scott Sipprelle is a Republican and sometimes he isn’t," said Tom Fitzsimmons, spokesman for Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, who's running against Sipprelle in the 12th Congressional District GOP Primary for a shot at U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp). 

"The fact remains that for a number of years- including from the time he registered to vote in Mercer County in 2001 up until 2007-Scott Sipprelle was not a registered Republican," Fitzsimmons added in the statement he released this evening. "He made donations to Democrats like Chuck Schumer, when he was in between Republican phases, and donated to five House Democrats last year even when he was registered as a Republican. He has been evasive about those donations, which have led voters to have their doubts about Mr. Sipprelle. This checkered voting registration history will only generate more doubt."

Dealt a slap last night in Old Bridge when a majority of the Middlesex County Republican Party's screening committee members backed Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre over their candidate, venture capitalist Scott Sipprelle of Princeton, the Sipprelle Team hit back today, demanding that Halfacre apologize for disceiving the screening committee and the press.

Producing what he said are official voter registration records from Hudson and Bergen counties, Sipprelle consultant Chris Russell said Halfacre either lied or ignorantly provided bad intel regarding Sipprelle’s "long association with the Republican Party" in an attempt to land the committee's backing for the GOP nomination in the 12th Congressional District.

“Mike Halfacre is a career political insider who will literally say or do anything to win this campaign,” said Russell, answering Halfacre's charge that his candidate is a "Wall Street insider."

“Issuing a press release, without any credible proof, that claimed Scott ‘was not even a registered Republican until 2007’ less than two hours before a major screening committee event and then reiterating that false claim in-person, is outrageous."